Pollo Crema - Azteca's Pollo a La Crema

Name: Pollo Crema - Azteca's Pollo a La Crema
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 6 serving(s)
Ingredients: 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips (or bite sized pieces); 1 medium fresh sweet onion, sliced (yellow or red onion, your preference); 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 3 cups boiling water; 2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules; 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granule; 6 ounces tomato paste; 2 teaspoons minced roasted garlic; 1 tablespoon dried ancho chile powder; 1 teaspoon cumin; 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder; 1/4 teaspoon cider vinegar; 1 teaspoon dry sherry; 1/4 teaspoon butter; 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce or 1/2 teaspoon your favorite hot sauce, to taste; 1 cup Mexican crema (Mexican "Table Cream"); salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste; 1/4 cup crumbled Cotija cheese, for garnish (also known as Queso Anejado, can substitute feta if necessary); chopped scallion, for garnish; 1 ripe avocado, pitted, peeled, and cut into slices, for garnish

Submitted by Julesong

"This is my take on Azteca Restaurant's Pollo a la Crema. Rich and delicious! Chicken breast, sautéed with onion in a delicious mild crema sauce. Although the ingredient list is long, this recipe is actually quite easy to put together."

Download

photo by Julesong

Ready In:: 30mins
Ingredients:: 20
Serves:: 6

ingredients

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips (or bite sized pieces)
1 medium fresh sweet onion, sliced (yellow or red onion, your preference)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups boiling water
2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granule
6 ounces tomato paste
2 teaspoons minced roasted garlic
1 tablespoon dried ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon cumin
¹⁄₂ teaspoon cocoa powder
¹⁄₄ teaspoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dry sherry
¹⁄₄ teaspoon butter
¹⁄₂ teaspoon Tabasco sauce or 1/2 teaspoon your favorite hot sauce, to taste
1 cup Mexican crema (Mexican "Table Cream")
salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¹⁄₄ cup crumbled Cotija cheese, for garnish (also known as Queso Anejado, can substitute feta if necessary)
chopped scallion, for garnish
1 ripe avocado, pitted, peeled, and cut into slices, for garnish

directions

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium temperature then sauté the sliced onion until it begins to soften, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the chicken and sauté until browned, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes.
In another large saucepan over medium heat, stir together the boiling water and bouillon granules until dissolved.
Add remaining ingredients (except for garnish) and the cooked chicken and onion, stir well, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Garnish with crumbled Cotija, a bit of chopped scallion, and avocado, serve with rice and beans, and enjoy!
Note: to make the sauce even better, instead of the bouillon granules and water use 2 cups homemade beef stock and 1 cup homemade chicken stock.

Questions & Replies

Got a question? Share it with the community!

Reviews

I've had Pollo a la crema at Azteca before. This is nothing like what I had!

MarBos
A very tasty concoction of spices. Extra delicious with the addition of the avocado and cheese. I also used a handful of cilantro for garnish at the end. I used what I had on hand, which was chunks of leftover Christmas turkey instead of the chicken, vegetable broth instead of the water and bouillon cubes, brandy instead of sherry, sour cream instead of the crema, AND feta instead of the queso. Family agreed that this was the best tasting leftover turkey meal ever.

Waterskater
So good, the only differences I made were I used a tsp of chipotle powder and a tsp of chili powder as I had no ancho on hand, and that was just the right amount of spice. I also had to add cornstarch to thicken the sauce but WOW was this recipe yummy!

Ashmo
I tried this some time ago but didn't write it down. This time I'm printing it out and sending a copy to every one I know!! We like it with chicken but love it with shrimp!!

Stratsmom

Tweaks

A very tasty concoction of spices. Extra delicious with the addition of the avocado and cheese. I also used a handful of cilantro for garnish at the end. I used what I had on hand, which was chunks of leftover Christmas turkey instead of the chicken, vegetable broth instead of the water and bouillon cubes, brandy instead of sherry, sour cream instead of the crema, AND feta instead of the queso. Family agreed that this was the best tasting leftover turkey meal ever.

Waterskater

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

Julesong

Tukwila, 87

It's simply this: I love to cook! :) I've been hanging out on the internet since the early days and have collected loads of recipes. I've tried to keep the best of them (and often the more unusual) and look forward to sharing them with you, here. I am proud to say that I have several family members who are also on RecipeZaar! My husband, here as <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/39857>Steingrim</a>, is an excellent cook. He rarely uses recipes, though, so often after he's made dinner I sit down at the computer and talk him through how he made the dishes so that I can get it down on paper. Some of these recipes are in his account, some of them in mine - he rarely uses his account, though, so we'll probably usually post them to mine in the future. My sister <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/65957>Cathy is here as cxstitcher</a> and <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/62727>my mom is Juliesmom</a> - say hi to them, eh? Our <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/379862>friend Darrell is here as Uncle Dobo</a>, too! I've been typing in his recipes for him and entering them on R'Zaar. We're hoping that his sisters will soon show up with their own accounts, as well. :) I collect cookbooks (to slow myself down I've limited myself to purchasing them at thrift stores, although I occasionally buy an especially good one at full price), and - yes, I admit it - I love FoodTV. My favorite chefs on the Food Network are Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, Mario Batali, and Giada De Laurentiis. I'm not fond over fakey, over-enthusiastic performance chefs... Emeril drives me up the wall. I appreciate honesty. Of non-celebrity chefs, I've gotta say that that the greatest influences on my cooking have been my mother, Julia Child, and my cooking instructor Chef Gabriel Claycamp at Seattle's Culinary Communion. In the last couple of years I've been typing up all the recipes my grandparents and my mother collected over the years, and am posting them here. Some of them are quite nostalgic and are higher in fat and processed ingredients than recipes I normally collect, but it's really neat to see the different kinds of foods they were interested in... to see them either typewritten oh-so-carefully by my grandfather, in my grandmother's spidery handwriting, or - in some cases - written by my mother years ago in fountain pen ink. It's like time travel. Cooking peeve: food/cooking snobbery. Regarding my black and white icon (which may or may not be the one I'm currently using): it the sea-dragon tattoo that is on the inside of my right ankle. It's also my personal logo.

View Full Profile